Thank you for joining me here today in the room that gave birth to Nassau County Government - to talk about the rebirth of Nassau County Government.

Nassau County's budget and Nassau County's future are much like this room.

You can see the progress we have made - the decayed walls torn down, the crumbling ceilings stripped bare, the years of neglect removed.

You can see the light shining through and you can see the promise, the pride, and the greatness that once was Nassau County.

But you can also see the hard work that remains before we can make this County great again.

Here in Mineola, we have turned a critical corner - the corner that decisively leaves behind the legacy of mismanagement, waste, fraud and abuse. There is still much work to do - serious work - but we have risen above the chaos and crisis we inherited on January 1, 2002.

Nassau County is back in business!

Our success reflects a series of significant accomplishments over the past 20 months, capped by the favorable PBA arbitration award released late last night.

These accomplishments have returned the County to sound fiscal footing. Our 2004 budget is conservatively balanced while holding the line on both spending and taxes.

Unlike the phony no tax increase budgets of the past, our budget does not rely on gimmicks, one-shot revenue deals or hidden expenditures. Our budget is solid and credible. It will further enhance our status with the credit rating agencies, will be favorably reviewed by the fiscal monitors and will help to return confidence in our government to the people of Nassau County.

On April 1st of 2002, I presented a 5-point plan to solve the fiscal crisis. I said to our legislators and the public that night:

Today, I say clearly to each of you "Mission Accomplished."

1. We reduced our workforce to the smallest it has been in 30 years by cutting more than one thousand, one hundred jobs saving over $100 million per year;
   
2. We have eliminated nearly $100 million in waste, fraud and abuse;
   
3. We have negotiated and arbitrated union contracts that will improve our fiscal condition by over $50 million;
   
4. We have dramatically reduced our borrowing; and,
   
5. We increased the property tax last year and will not do so again for the remainder of my first term as County Executive.

We have turned the critical corner, and the problems we now face are the same problems that threaten every county and municipality in New York State. We are no longer alone, as the "poster child" for failed government.

Rising State-mandated Medicaid costs, continuously declining state and federal aid, unabated increases in pension contributions, rising health insurance premiums and a continued sluggish economy are problems that we, like our municipal colleagues throughout the State, will have to confront. But now, we face these challenges from a position of strength and stability rather than one of weakness and organizational chaos.

Similar to any institution of our size we will have to run our County more businesslike, looking for more efficeincies, continuing to reduce the workforce and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse that still exists in our $2.3 billion dollar enterprise.

But, now our efforts to achieve our goals will be more akin to an inspired journey as opposed to what has been a forced march.

The three major Wall Street credit rating agencies have, in response to our reform, increased Nassau's bond rating for the first time in 15 years. Moody's Investor Services recently noted that while nine counties' bond ratings have been downgraded and 10 have been placed on "credit watch," Nassau is one of only four counties in the entire State of New York that has "bucked the trend" and received a rating increase.

Nassau County is one of only a few counties in New York State that will not borrow for increased pension costs despite the fact that it is authorized to do by State legislation. Furthermore, unlike most counties in the State, Nassau County is paying off its entire 2002 early retirement incentive liability, this year.

Make no mistake: Nassau County is back in business. And this time, it's the kind of business we can all be proud of.

We have passed the first hurdle in our road to fiscal recovery. This budget, and the implementation of our 5-Point, 4-year plan, marks a major step forward in our effort to make Nassau County "The Best County in the Country" once again.

The challenges ahead are many and varied, but now our focus changes from a desperate effort to correct gross abuses, to rational systematic efforts to create model reform.

Primarily, we must work to help reshape the Nassau University Medical Center, before it drags us down.

Furthermore, the State of New York must be persuaded to cap the local property tax payers cost for Medicaid, Early Intervention and Pre- School programs - all of which are good programs - before they break the bank.

Additionally, we have included in our budget specific items to enhance our efforts:

Difficult challenges and much hard work remains but integrity, stability and good government have returned to Nassau County. When Theodore Roosevelt first laid the corner stone in this building, who knows if he or the hundreds that joined him that day envisioned Nassau's meteoric growth as the nation's first suburb. Who knows if they anticipated that one day, poor management and machine politics would be its ruin. But we know that we have a great legacy and foundation to build upon. We are now on the right track and moving fast forward into the future.

Like this grand room, with the 2004 Budget and Multi-Year Financial Plan, we move considerably closer to restoring Nassau County to its former greatness and to making it the "Best County in the Country."

Thank you

An Executive Summary to the 2004 Budget is available here as a ".pdf" document (~ 574 kB .pdf file - 9 pages)
Adobe Acrobat Reader® required

An Executive Summary to the 2004 Budget is available here as an MS-WORD document (~ 2.5 mB .doc file - 9 pages)
MS-WORD Wordprocessor required
Note: Large File - allow sufficient download time